This years event, organised by CMP Information, covered nine exhibition halls with a total surface area of 100 000 square meters. The number of stands exceeded 700 and adding the fact that some companies shared one stand the total number of exhibitors amounted to around 1000. The International Fire Expo which takes place biannually coincided with IFSEC this year, which added further to the size of the event in terms of surface area as well as attraction to visitors. IFSEC has always attracted rather many foreign visitors and this year was no exception. It is a safe bet to say that there are few companies in the European security business not sending at least one or a few representatives to this show. This makes the show a meeting ground for the entire security industry.
- I've learned enough since January to appreciate that IFSEC is an essential stage of my security education. There is general agreement that this is the world's leading annual security event, covering 100,000 square metres, nine exhibition halls and over 1000 companies from over 40 countries, said Baroness Ruth Henig, Chair of the Security Industry Association who opened the event and attended at IFSEC for the first time,

Increasing number
of Asian exhibitors
In terms of the international content of the show it was striking how many exhibitors there were this year from the Far East, where countries like Korea, Taiwan and China amongst others had special joint sections of the show within a common framework. These joint country sections contained many small to middle sized vendors. This offered visitors an opportunity to make direct contact with new vendors in an easy way. The mega big multinationals like for example Sony or Panasonic on the other hand had their own detached large stands separated from the country pavilions.

New theme areas
IFSEC 2007 offered a number of new theme areas as well. One such area, The Police & Public Security, which had been carefully planned in co-operation with industry experts was well received amongst visitors. The theme area of Physical Security was another example, where suppliers of equipment like perimeter protection, locking systems, safes and other similar equipment were gathered.
- To achieve visitor figures like these is phenomenal and truly reflective of the show's global appeal, explained James Blue, IFSEC Event Director.
In addition to exhibit a broad range of products and services IFSEC 2007 also presented a comprehensive educational program. Three dedicated seminar theatres offered the visitors free seminar sessions covering anything from counter terrorism strategy to the latest control software for IP cameras.

Security on the Olympic Games
One very popular seminar was organised jointly by The British Security Industry Association (BSIA) and some of the experts involved with the London 2012 Olympics, who presented the security problems facing the games and what kind of technical equipment that is going to be in demand. These demands include biometric technology, identity fraud detection and the use of detector-activated, remotely monitored CCTV. A number of high profile speakers gave presentations at the session, including Andrew Amery on behalf of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) and Tarique Ghaffur, Assistant Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police.
Another example of a popular seminar was Convergence, Compliance and the Future of Integrated security by UK Security Operations Manager, Thom Williamson, of IBM.
- The winners in this market will be those that can deliver integrated solutions, firstly with other physical security solutions and then IT-Convergence focussed on the high growth opportunities.
Thom Williamson explained how deploying IPSecurityCenter integrated security management software provides audit, certainty and efficiency to better protect IBM's assets, people and property.

Coming IFSEC events
IFSEC 2008 will take place 12 - 15 May and at the same venue, that is at the NEC in Birmingham, UK. The organiser predicts that next year's issue will better than ever.
Yet another IFSEC show will be launched later this year and for the first time outside the UK which is IFSEC India in Pragati Maidan in New Delhi 25 - 27 October 2007. This show, which will be co-located with Internal Security (IS), is aimed at the police and paramilitary sector.